7 October 2001

Business Names of the Week:
The Bend Down Spot (a snack bar)
Chic"n Lick"n (where they proclaim to "make chicken taste better")

Auntie Rose She LOVES having her picture taken,especially on Sundays, before church, when she is dressed in her finest outfits.

One of the "commemorative" posters for sale around town. It's in very poor taste, and we were ashamed of buying it, but it seemed so bizarre that we wanted to inspect it further. (Click the image to see a larger version.)

One of our guards, Ben, was so happy last night because he received a letter from his "small boy," as male children are called, who lives in Takoradi, which is about four hours away with a fast car. His son had visited a year ago and when he was getting ready to leave he accidentally took one of Ben's boots, since it looked similar to his own, and left one of his boots. All year the two of them have been wearing one of the other's boots. Ben lifted his pants legs and laughed, looking down at the mismatched pair on his feet. Now the boy wants his own boot back, but that would leave Ben with a boot for only one foot--at least until the boy could afford to send the other boot back.

It was Auntie Rose's birthday on Saturday, so we bought a cake and tried to surprise her. Unfortunately, just as we brought the cake out with candles lit, Ben came to the door to tell us there were six armed guards from the U.S. embassy at the gate. Shara had been spotted earlier in the day filming some goats walking along ahead of her and then panned up, catching the embassy building on film. She had to follow the officers to the embassy, where they confiscated her tape and frightened her by saying they'd have to keep her handcuffed to the chair until Tuesday, since Monday is an American holiday. Then they laughed and said they were joking. She was released with a receipt for her film, which she can retrieve from the head of security on Tuesday.

We're now out of the rainy season, and water flows and then water goes, making me glad I brought a few packs of Wet Wipes. In general, though, I've been pleasantly surprised by the consistency of water and power.

Last night I went to a concert at the Bassline jazz club in Accra. It was spectacular. The musicians were brilliant and they played one right after another, making it almost too much great music all at once! There was an afro-jazz band, Dzidudu, as well as Steve Kuntoh, a drummer, Kakraba Lobi, a xylophone player, and a huge group called the Pan African Orchestra. The members played traditional instruments but were set up like a European orchestra and had a conductor. It was awesome to hear gorgeous sound from the simplest of instruments. I'm going to try to find out how to hear them again. You can get a clear sense of the roots of jazz in African music from these master artists.